Field
The present disclosure relates to a device and method of selecting an object for 3D printing.
Description of Related Art
The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
3D printing is a means of volumetric printing, where instead of depositing two-dimensional pixels on a flat surface, the printer deposits three-dimensional voxels within a volume. There are numerous technologies to achieve this, including the use of lasers to melt and fuse materials such as metal powder in incremental layers to build a structure, or the use of a high-temperature print-head to deposit small droplets of plastic that cool and harden to build up a 3D model.
The design for such a 3D model is typically generated in a computer-aided design program, in which a user defines surfaces and volumes of a virtual model. A drawing list is then generated by the program specifying the order in which to fuse or deposit materials to render the virtual model using the 3D printer.
This approach has resulted in the creation of many aesthetically and functionally unique objects, some of which are difficult to make using conventional processes. However the utility of 3D printers has still not been fully explored.
In particular, it may be desirable to capture dynamically generated or animated 3D models, such as those found in videogames, at a particularly memorable or significant point in time during gameplay.
The present disclosure aims to provide such a new use for 3D printers.
In a first aspect, a method of selecting an object from a videogame for 3D printing is provided according to claim 1.
In another aspect, a method of selecting an object from a videogame for 3D printing is provided according to claim 2.
In another aspect, a videogame hosting device is provided according to claim 10.
In another aspect, a computing device is provided according to claim 14.
Further respective aspects and features of the disclosure are defined in the appended claims.